


Remember Me...

by Vertiser



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, The Fright Zone (She-Ra), catradora
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:21:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24477115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vertiser/pseuds/Vertiser
Summary: An alternative take on the events in Hordak’s sanctum, leading to the opening of the portal in season 3. What if Catra and Adora talked about their past? Would Catra still pull the switch? Or would she switch sides?
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Kudos: 80





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MW2000LiS](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MW2000LiS/gifts).



> This fic contains spoilers for episode 3x4 Moment of Truth.
> 
> I want to sincerely thank my two awesome beta-readers, [Megaruru](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megaruru/) and Blackadder, for their insightful suggestions that helped me improve this story <3
> 
> I wrote Remember Me after watching the beginning of season 4, therefore it does not include certain characters and events from seasons 4-5.
> 
> This story consists of three chapters. They will be released sequentially with a 24-hour interval.
> 
> _For MW. Thank you for introducing me to She-Ra._

“Open the portal and let’s end this!” Catra cried, seeing Hordak’s hesitation. The princesses were close, she could hear sounds of fighting in the corridor leading to Hordak’s Sanctum. They didn’t have much time. “Open the portal, now!”

Hordak looked at her, then at Adora. He approached the device assembled by Entrapta, frowning at the memory of the princess who betrayed him. A large metal lever occupied the central position in the complex machinery, surrounded by a mess of tangled cables. She-Ra’s sword was levitating above, emanating a soft blue glow, signalling that it was ready to release its power at any minute. Catra’s sensitive ears picked up a soft buzzing, constant electrostatic discharge around the sword, as if it knew what was about to happen and was accumulating energy on its own, preparing for the ultimate discharge. Hordak reached out, but before his fingers could grasp the lever, a powerful explosion shook the room. The shockwave knocked Catra over, throwing Hordak at the opposite wall with a loud thud. Only Adora, who was still firmly tied down to the huge pipe, remained in place, although with her hair and clothes completely dishevelled. Large fragments of the ceiling fell off, enveloping everyone and everything in the room in a thick cloud of dust.

Catra rose slowly, brushing away small pieces of debris that landed on her. As the dust settled, she saw that a large part of the room collapsed, cutting her and Adora off from the entrance. Hordak laid against the wall, unconscious. Damaged control panels were sending showers of sparks. Some of the broken screens were smoking lightly while the ones untouched by the explosion were showing a multitude of error messages and blinking alerts. The Portal machine, however, seemed intact.

“Adora! Hang on! We’ll get to you!” Glimmer’s muffled voice came from the other side of the rubble. Both Catra and Adora looked into that direction. Catra let out a quiet hiss and moved towards the lever to activate the portal.

“Catra, please, don’t.”

Adora’s voice made Catra freeze mid-step, and her tail rose, alerted. Hesitantly, she turned around and looked at Adora. Ever since Adora left the Horde, she has always seen anger and contempt in the eyes of her former friend. As if Adora couldn’t or didn’t want to forgive Catra for not running away with her when she had a chance. This time was different. Adora’s look was full of sadness and… regret?

But then other images appeared before Catra’s eyes. Adora leaving her after Thaymor. Adora choosing her new friends from the Rebellion over Catra. Adora doing everything to defeat Catra. Adora… hating her. Tears started to gather in Catra’s eyes, but she shook them off. She closed her eyes with a grimace, wanting to get rid of these memories, yet she couldn’t. When she opened her eyes she saw that Adora was still looking at her with that mysterious look.

Catra glanced over the lever activating the portal and unconscious Hordak, then returned her gaze to Adora.

“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t do it.”

“Because you would die.”

Catra burst with hysterical laughter, making Adora jerk back in reflex. It echoed around the room, muffling sounds coming from behind the rubble, where Glimmer and her companions were unsuccessfully trying to break into the sanctuary. Catra spread her hands, gesturing at the destroyed structure.

“Look around, Adora. I’m done. There is nothing left for me. Not here, nor in the entire Etheria. I don’t care if I die.”

“I do” Adora whispered softly.

Catra glared at her with fury in her eyes. In three quick steps she found herself in front of Adora and swung her claws, leaving four deep scratches on the pipe, inches above Adora’s head.

“Don’t lie, Adora! You left me!” she cried. “You promised that as long as we have each other nothing bad could happen, and then you left me!” Catra’s voice began to break, and despite the fact she really tried, she couldn’t stop tears flowing down her cheeks.

"Catra ... I had to ... the Horde ..."

"Oh, give me a break!" Catra snorted. "Anybody who has at least two brain cells knows what they are like! Isn’t it obvious?"

"It wasn’t! Not until Thaymor" Adora replied calmly. "I thought we were the good ones, we were changing the world for the better ..."

Catra stared at her in bewilderment.

"Were you really that stupid?"

"How would I know the difference? I've been in the Horde for as long as I can remember. I knew no other life."

Catra looked at her with a mixture of skepticism and disbelief.

"It doesn’t matter. Even after Thaymor you could have returned. You had a chance. Chances” she corrected herself. "You could’ve just come back to Horde. To… me."

Adora sighed heavily. "I couldn't, Catra. I'm sorry."

Catra's eyes narrowed.

“You are sorry? That’s all you have to say?” she spat with anger, her fists clenched. “You have no idea how shitty things were for me. In what position you left me in. You don’t know how Shadow Weaver, Hordak, everyone treated me like a piece of garbage, like a fucking abomination. As if I was the reason you left the Horde and teamed up with your sparkly new friends” she gestured towards the big pile of rubble separating them from Glimmer and the others. “You were my best friend, my only friend in this shit-hole, and you left! You abandoned me! Do you know how many sleepless nights I spent crying my eyes out in your empty bed? Do you know how many times I was beaten bloody by other cadets, because there was no one who would take my side? Do you know how many times I’ve heard how useless I was and how you would be so much better?!”

Both girls now had tears in their eyes.

“I had no idea.” Adora replied quietly, uncertainly. She couldn’t look up, she could not look Catra in the eye.

“Well, you didn’t do much to find out, now did you? You found new friends, better friends. You know who I had? No one. I thought that Entrapta would…” she hesitated for a moment, but then shook her head, tail moving furiously, giving away her anger. “She ended up taking my place at Hordak’s side. She only cared about her research, she never cared about me! No one ever cares about me…” Catra’s voice trailed off.

“I…” Adora began, but Catra silenced her, waving her hand dismissively.

“Please don’t. I can’t take another lie from you.”

“But it’s true!” Adora claimed. “I cared about you! You were my only friend, too! I wasn’t friends with Kyle, or Lonnie, or Rogelio. I was friends with you. We were inseparable. And we still can. If Shadow Weaver could change her mind, why can’t you?”

“Shadow Weaver betrayed me!” Catra hissed with a furious look. “She pretended that she cared about me, but she only used me to escape from the Fright Zone. She was the reason I ended up in her own cell! Because of her, Hordak had almost sent me to Beast Island!”

Angry Catra paced in front of Adora. She looked at the tied-up girl with a mix of resentment and jealousy.

“Shadow Weaver used me to get to you. You were the only one who ever mattered to her! Even after you became She-Ra, joined the Rebellion, fought against the Horde, she still chose you” she pointed at Adora accusingly. "Nothing like that would have happened if you hadn’t left me and your whole life behind.”

"It wasn’t easy for me, too!" Adora burst out, crying. "My whole world came down in one moment! Everything I believed in! Everything I stood for! The Horde turned the lives of ordinary people into hell. And we helped in that! Thanks to Bow and Glimmer I saw a different world. A world of kindness and friendship, in which everyone helps you, unlike the Fright Zone, where everyone is just waiting for your failure, to take your place. The Horde taught us that absolute obedience and duty are everything. That we have to win at all costs. I didn’t know you could live in a different way until I came to Bright Moon. When I realised what the Horde was doing… I couldn’t get back, Catra! Not even… for you.”

When Adora’s final sentence reached Catra, she froze. A mix of shock and surprise appeared on her face for a split second, almost instantly replaced by an angry grimace. In one smooth movement she jumped towards Adora and, with a scream full of rage and despair, she swung her clawed hand aiming at Adora’s face.

Adora, seeing approaching claws, closed her eyes and clenched her teeth in anticipation of impact and pain, which, however ... did not occur. After a few seconds she hesitantly opened her eyes.

Catra’s hand, with razor-sharp claws, stopped an inch from her face. Catra was breathing hard, not taking her eyes off Adora. A painful grimace appeared on her face, as if she was fighting herself. She withdrew her hand and swung once more but again, her hand hung harmlessly in the air in front of Adora’s face.

Resigned, Catra dropped to her knees. She started beating the concrete floor with her bare fists, crying.

“You took everything from me, Adora!” she said, hitting the floor again and again. “You even took away my revenge! I have nothing… nothing…”

Every now and then Catra’s crying was drowned out with a rumble, when elements of the structure couldn’t withstand the load and collapsed, destroying parts of the sanctum. However, two girls in the middle of the room did not seem to pay any attention to the world around them. Nothing else mattered at that moment.

"Catra ..." Adora began quietly, giving her former friend a sad look. “I never wanted to fight against you. I've fought against injustice, violence, terror. I have never fought against you, as a person.” Tears were rolling down Adora’s face now. She could hardly suppress a sob when the feelings she had buried a long time ago came out, surging forward in full force. "I ... I never considered you a bad person. We were brought up by the Horde, how could we know that what we've been doing was evil? In the Fright Zone everything was different. White was black and black was white. I didn't realise it until the Thaymor. I don’t regret leaving the Horde. But I do regret leaving you."

Catra raised her head and looked at Adora hopelessly. "It doesn't matter anymore, Adora" she said in a resigned tone. "It's too little, too late. I'm a goner."

She got up slowly and looked at the portal machine, then back at Adora. She smiled sadly.

"You know that the Horde always gets what they want."

"Catra, no!”

Catra ignored Adora’s plea. She walked to the lever and grabbed it hesitantly. Her heart was racing. She was scared, but she had to do it. She was never good enough for Shadow Weaver, she was never good enough for Hordak. She wasn’t even good enough for Adora, who still left her behind. But maybe this will change their minds. One last victory.

Catra turned her head towards the tied girl. “I’m sorry, Adora."

She pulled the lever.


	2. Chapter 2

The portal machine instantly came to life. She-Ra’s sword started glowing with a blinding white light, and the portal began to form, revealing a passage in the middle. For a moment, everything seemed fine. The corners of Catra’s lips raised in a smile. She opened her mouth to announce her success to Adora, but then the sound made by the portal changed. It became lower, more ominous. The machine started to vibrate violently, sending sparks in all directions. The glow around the sword became so bright that both girls had to cover their eyes.

"What is happening?" Catra asked in surprise, stepping back.

Adora looked at the expanding white glow.

"The portal is broken," she explained. "Mara, the previous She-Ra, created a flaw to make sure that Etheria would never be reachable through another portal. It will slowly grow and consume everything and everyone."

Catra looked at her with wide eyes.

"Are you sure?"

Adora nodded.

Catra stood next to the pipe Adora was tied to, watching the expanding white void. Its borders were slowly expanding, already reaching the edges of the portal machine, although the outline of the sword could still be seen inside. She glanced uncertainly at Adora, who, strangely, seemed to accept their fate.

"Adora, I ..." she began, but her voice stuck in her throat.

Adora looked her in the eyes and smiled sadly.

"It's alright, Catra. I don't blame you. It all happened because of the Horde. The two of us fighting, Shadow Weaver plotting against you, Entrapta joining the Horde… It's all because we were all too proud and stubborn to admit that we were wrong, even to ourselves. The Rebellion, the Horde. No one wins this fight. Soon we will all just ... cease to be."

Terrified, Catra glanced at Adora, whose face showed no signs of fear, only acceptance.

“Aren’t you afraid?" she asked, surprised.

"No," Adora replied, her eyes fixed at the expanding nothingness. "I ... I'm glad you’re here with me."

Catra raised her eyebrows.

"Why? I have just basically doomed you and the entire planet. Why are you not angry with me?"

Adora turned her gaze away from the portal and looked deeply into Catra's eyes.

"Because I love you."

Catra’s mind went haywire. Thousands of thoughts flashed through her head. She did not realise she was standing in front of Adora with her mouth open.

"You… love me?" she asked hesitantly after a moment, without taking her eyes off Adora. The white glow of the expanding portal reflected in her heterochromatic eyes.

"Yes, Catra. I love you.”

"But you mean it like ... like a friend?" She asked sadly. She knew that Adora could not possibly love her the way she loved Adora. Adora would never love someone like her…

"No" Catra’s thoughts were interrupted by Adora’s denial. "You are more than that to me, Catra. I _love_ you. I always have” she started crying again, tears staining her red jacket. "I was trying to ignore it, push it away when I became She-Ra, when I moved to Bright Moon. I wanted to stop loving you. It would have been so much easier to fight you knowing that we genuinely hated each other. It didn’t work. No matter what was happening, I could never really hate you. I thought I did. But I was just lying to myself."

“No… no…” Catra felt panic building up inside her, she couldn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it. "Please, Adora, please don't give me false hope. Not now, not in our final moments. Please, I beg you.”

Adora wanted to reach out to Catra, but she forgot she was tied down.

"Listen, Catra, please, look at me. Look into my eyes."

Catra hesitantly obliged.

"I swear to you, by the honour of Grayskull, that I am telling the truth. You are the love of my life, Catra. I love you.”

Catra moved closer to Adora, their eyes met inches away.

"Are you telling me this as She-Ra?"

Adora shook her head.

Deep in Catra's heart, something moved. A feeling she buried a long time ago when Adora made her choice, standing among the ruins of Thaymor. On that day Catra promised herself that she would never let it grow in strength again, because she knew that she would not be able to survive Adora abandoning her for the second time. This little, forgotten spark found a way to Catra's heart.

For the first time in years, Catra was happy.

“I love you too, Adora” she whispered, embracing Adora in a soft hug. Adora, with her hands tied to a pipe, could not reciprocate the gesture, but she buried her face in the crook of Catra’s neck, feeling the warmth of her body, her smell, the soft touch of fur on her head.

Catra broke their hug eventually. Portal light permeated the room, enveloping their silhouettes in a soft glow. Adora turned her head to the portal. The white sphere was merely a couple feet away, although she could still see a faint contour of She-Ra’s sword in the center of the void.

"Catra, could you please untie me? I… I don't want to go this way. Tied up to a pipe. I want to hold you in my arms when… when it reaches us.”

Catra gave Adora a strange look. Adora could not quite understand what it was expressing. Nostalgia? Desire? Sorrow? She heard a loud thud where the entrance to the sanctum was. Pieces of debris were being thrown aside with magic, and the gap appeared in the middle of the rubble, through which Adora could see some silhouettes. Catra glanced over them, then returned her attention to Adora.

"Glimmer and the rest will be here soon. They'll untie you."

"What? Why? I don’t…" Adora started, but Catra leaned slowly and kissed her tenderly, interrupting her. The kiss was short, it lasted maybe a couple of seconds, but for Adora it could have easily been hours. She felt the surge of pleasure and desire, but she was soon left longing, with only a glimpse of a bliss she will never experience again. Catra took a step back, her silhouette a contrast to the blinding light of the void behind her back. She looked at Adora intently.

"I'm sorry for everything. I wish I hadn't hurt you and the others. I did many bad things, but maybe there is still something I can do right."

Adora stared at her, confused.

"Catra, I don't understand, I..."

"I love you, Adora" Catra smiled sadly. "Please... remember me."

Before Adora could understand her words, Catra turned around and entered the white glow. As soon as she crossed its border, she bent in half, screaming in pain.

"Catra, no!" Adora cried, pulling her bonds in vain.

Catra's silhouette stood out against the blinding glow around her, like a black spot in a sea of white. Still bent down, taking each step with great effort, she approached the sword levitating in the heart of the portal. Adora saw shining lines forming on Catra's dark silhouette, like cracks on a marble statue. With every second there were more and more of them, they were growing wider, covering almost her entire body. Catra fell down and her cry became visceral, almost inhuman. Adora couldn’t stand it, she wanted to cover her ears, but was not able to, with her hands tied to a pipe. Her heart broke seeing Catra’s suffering.

"Catra, please, don't! Get back, I beg you! Get back!”

Adora didn’t know if her voice could penetrate the white void at all, but a moment later she saw Catra rise and slowly walk on all fours towards the sword. She was nearly there, just a couple of feet from the center of the portal. Her entire body shone with a web of glowing cracks, as if Catra was broken into million pieces, held together only by her sheer will.

Six feet to the sword. Her legs gave out. She started to crawl on her hands.

Two feet to the sword. Adora noticed that Catra’s silhouette was becoming translucent. She could no longer hear Catra’s scream. In fact, she could no longer hear anything from inside the white void. She could only watch the silent scene unfolding in front of her.

In her last desperate attempt, Catra gathered all her strength and stood up unsteadily. She raised both hands, cracked with glowing lines, and clutched the sword’s hilt, pulling it back from the center of the portal. A dazzling explosion of yellow light followed, so bright that Adora was forced to close her eyes, yet she could still see the glow through her closed eyelids. The light flooded the entire room, casting away all the shadows, then suddenly disappeared, revealing She-Ra’s sword and the completely destroyed portal machine.

And a lifeless body lying on the floor.

“Adora! Are you okay?” Glimmer’s voice right next to her pulled Adora out of the shock. Bow appeared at her other side, cutting her ties with a knife-shaped arrowhead. They caught Adora in one big hug.

“I’m so happy to see you! We were so scared they’d hurt you!” Bow said, not loosening his embrace for a second.

“If it wasn’t for Shadow Weaver’s help, we would have never made it on time… Hey, why are you crying?”

Adora pushed them both aside and ran to the place where Catra lay. She gasped involuntarily, seeing the aftermath of Catra’s interaction with the portal. Most of Catra’s torso, right arm and half of her face were black as night. Glowing white line ran through her chest, like a rift, splitting her in two. Her eyes were closed and limbs, unmoving.

She heard a scream of terror above her head and looked up to see Glimmer, pale, with widely open eyes fixed at Catra.

"What happened to her? Did you… did She-Ra do this?"

"The portal did this" Adora answered quietly, returning her gaze to Catra’s body.

"Well... Good riddance. She got what she deserved after kidnapping you and stealing your sword."

Adora didn’t register her body moving, but in the next moment she stood face to face with Glimmer, fists clenched on the fabric of her friend’s dress.

“SHE SAVED US! IF NOT FOR HER WE ALL WOULD BE DEAD BY NOW, ALONG WITH THE WHOLE ETHERIA!”

Glimmer’s mouth opened. “I didn’t know. I’m sorry, I didn’t think she would…”

“She sacrificed herself to save us all!” Adora interrupted, although in a calmer manner. “She did it for…”

“Hey, Adora.”

A faint, hoarse whisper was barely audible, but it made Adora stop instantly. She turned back to Catra. A single yellow eye, devoid of its usual glow, looked at her from behind a half-open eyelid. The other was all dark, except for the unmoving pupil, shining with a bright light, same as the crack on her chest.

“Catra!” Adora kneeled at her side, caressing Catra’s cheek.

“Did… it… work?” she mouthed, barely moving her lips. Adora realised that Catra's breathing was irregular and raspy, it terrified her.

“Yes, it did! You saved us, Catra! You saved Etheria!”

Half of Catra’s mouth smiled faintly in response. Adora noticed that fingers in Catra’s unaffected hand were moving slightly, although the arm lay still. She gently enveloped Catra’s hand in both of her own.

“You are a true hero, Catra. You saved everyone!”

Catra didn’t seem to notice her words. Her remaining eye no longer followed Adora’s face.

Adora’s heart skipped a beat. She looked at Catra in terror.

“Catra, please, hold on… Wake up! Can you hear me? Catra! Catra!”

“What is happening?” Bow asked, but Adora ignored him.

“Glimmer! Can you teleport her to Bright Moon? She needs healing!”

“I’m sorry, Adora! I can’t use my powers anymore! Shadow Weaver drained too much. I need to recharge.”

Adora’s face fell. She looked at unmoving Catra, noticed that her eyes were now closed. She felt something warm on her cheeks. Tears.

“Catra, please don’t leave me now…” she sobbed, hugging the limp body of her loved one. “Please, don’t abandon me. I will never leave you again, I promise! Just open your eyes, please!”

Catra stayed still.


	3. Chapter 3

_Three months later…_

Bright Moon was full of people. Everyone gathered to pay homage to the new queen. After the battle of the Fright Zone, during which the Horde’s machines were destroyed, and She-Ra recovered her sword, the Horde was forced to sign a truce. Seeing Glimmer’s role in restoring the peace, Queen Angella decided it was time for her daughter to take over the duties of the ruler of Bright moon. The first official ceremony announced by the new queen was to be held with panache, all the princesses and guests from distant lands were invited. There was some consternation among the gathered, caused by the presence of a delegation from the Horde, with Princess Scorpia as its leader, but Queen Glimmer didn’t want to hear about it.

“We are all here today thanks to Catra. Both the Horde and the Rebellion. I will not let the celebration that pays tribute to her sacrifice be held without her friends. Even if they belong to the Horde.”

Therefore, the first decision of the new queen has been carried out. The crowd gathered in the square in front of the royal gardens. The podium for the queen was erected in the central place. Behind it, a huge sheet of red silk hid a mysterious shape. The delegation from the Horde was invited to take seats in the first row. It was not difficult to recognise the strangers, among whom Princess Scorpia not only towered in height, but also attracted attention with her giant tail and pincers. Observant people would notice that the princess was sad, and her gaze every now and then wandered towards an empty chair placed at her side.

"Are you sure you want this chair to be here?" Scorpia heard someone's voice and turned around, seeing Adora, or rather She-Ra, in her elegant costume, with a sword in hand. "Doesn't it remind you of what you lost?"

Scorpia smiled with nostalgia, but then shook her head. “No, Adora. It's fine. This is the best place. I’m sure that Catra would have wanted to witness it… Our wildcat is getting her own statue… Who would know… "

Adora put a hand on her shoulder, then took a seat on the other side of the empty chair. A moment later Bow joined her. Scorpia also spotted Queen Angella (or should she say Former Queen? She’s never really been good at titles and royal etiquette…), sitting on the other side of the wide passage, with the princesses. To her surprise, in the second row Scorpia saw a winged unicorn who had been constantly trying to steal the attention of the audience. It was, however, Bright Moon, and Scorpia knew that one should not be too surprised by anything.

The crowd was loud and excited. Everyone was discussing what the new queen's reign would be like, what would happen now, after the peace with the Horde had been made, and what the statue of Catra, the mysterious heroine of the Fright Zone, who had reportedly put an end to the war, looks like.

When the clock on the castle tower struck twelve, a pink glow appeared in the central part of the podium. A few seconds later Queen Glimmer materialised in that spot, standing in an elegant silver robe that glistened in the rays of the sun. The noise of the crowd died down immediately, everyone turned their eyes to the young queen.

Glimmer looked around the square, as if searching for someone, then smiled slightly when she saw She-Ra and Bow, who waved at her. After a moment, she took a deep breath and put on a dignified expression.

“Dear residents of Bright Moon, honourable guests, princesses, friends” she began, looking at the crowd. "I want to greet you all today, on this special occasion that marks the beginning of my rule at Bright Moon. I am proud to be able to celebrate with you the dawn of a new era, peace and harmony, and I promise that I will do my best to be a worthy successor to my mother, Queen Angella.” Glimmer nodded to her mother, who returned the gesture and smiled broadly.

"I promise that I will look after all my subjects and will stand up for justice so that no one will be hurt or harmed."

The crowd cheered enthusiastically, so Glimmer paused, waiting for the noise to stop. After a while she continued.

"But I wouldn't be here, we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for heroic actions of a member of the Horde.”

All eyes turned to the Horde’s delegation. Scorpia blushed, seeing that everyone was looking at them. Fortunately, Glimmer continued her speech, so the crowd's attention slowly drifted back to the queen.

"Catra, for she is the person I’m talking about, grew up in the Horde with Adora, who most of you know as She-Ra. When Adora left the Horde and joined the Rebellion, they fought each other for some time. Catra had her reasons to fight for the Horde, just as Adora had her reasons to fight for us. However, it was Catra’s noble action, her sacrifice when, regardless of the danger, she entered the unstable portal in the heart of the Fright Zone, that not only stopped the destruction of Etheria, but made it possible to stop the war tormenting our lands for decades. In her last words before stepping into the portal she asked for forgiveness. And forgiveness she did receive."

The memory of those moments made Adora's heart sink. In her mind, she could still see Catra’s broken body, lying still on the floor of Hordak’s sanctum. Next to her Scorpia wiped her nose, crying openly.

The atmosphere on the square has changed. During these three months that passed since the portal was destroyed, virtually everyone learned what they owed to Catra, to her final choice. Everyone knew what she had sacrificed to save Adora and all of Etheria. Her deeds as a Horde soldier have not been forgotten. But they have been forgiven tenfold.

Glimmer’s voice was loud and clear when she proclaimed her first official decision as the Queen of Bright Moon.

“By my royal decree, henceforth, Catra of the Horde shall always be known as the Heroine of Etheria. Her sacrifice will not be forgotten. It will remind us that everyone, even in the darkest hour, can rise to the challenge and become a hero that saves the world.”

Glimmer raised her hand. On this signal the velvet curtain dropped, revealing a marble statue. It depicted Catra, standing tall and brave, with She-Ra’s sword raised in her hand. The fanfare echoed in the square, quickly followed by the crowd’s cheer and applause. In that chaos hardly anyone noticed that Adora shed a single tear, which she wiped with the back of her hand. Scorpia’s stare changed between the empty chair next to her and Catra’s statue. She smiled at her memories.

The applause lasted a long time. When it stopped, Glimmer glanced at the statue, then fixed her gaze back at the crowd in front of her.

"I hope that this monument will remind us every day how precious are sacrifices made by our loved ones and that we should always show them our love and support. But I believe that even better than a piece of rock will be a testimony of someone who witnessed these events themselves. Please, welcome our guest warmly."

Glimmer turned around and gestured at the row of guardswomen behind her. The soldiers parted, making passage for a lonely person hidden behind, who slowly, hesitantly limped over to the queen. The crowd froze for a moment when they saw a figure leaning on a cane, with a patch on one eye. The second, yellow one, looked at them inquisitively.

Catra smiled shyly.

The crowd exploded with joy, cheering and applauding. One by one, the guests spontaneously rose from their seats, until finally the entire square was giving Catra a standing ovation.

Scorpia smiled broadly. “I told you we would need that chair!” She said, elbowing Adora playfully. “I knew that Catra wouldn’t miss out on her celebration!”

Adora didn’t respond. Instead, she launched herself towards the podium and hugged Catra, making her groan.

"You really didn't have to do this" Catra muttered, steadying herself on the healthy leg. "You know I hate parties."

"Nonsense" Adora replied. “This whole celebration is for you! You deserve it!”

Catra glanced at her statue. “Well, I do look pretty cool with your sword. I wish I had a cape, though.”

Adora laughed joyfully. She took off her cape and put it over Catra’s shoulders in a chivalrous gesture.

“Now you do. And everybody knows you are mine” she said, smiling wildly, her eyes full of love.

The girls stared into each other’s eyes for a moment, then slowly joined their lips in a kiss, making the crowd go wild.

The party and celebrations lasted a whole night. Cheers and congratulations echoed throughout the streets of Bright Moon and beyond, announcing to everyone that the two heroines have finally found their happiness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it. Thank you for staying with me and giving this story a chance! <3
> 
> In this alternative version of events Catra survived her encounter with the portal, although her body remained affected. If you’d like to see more of this AU, please let me know in a comment ;)
> 
> Also, some time ago I made [a drawing of Portal Catra](https://www.deviantart.com/vertiser/art/Portal-Catra-843810561), so if you'd like to check it out, feel free to visit my [She-Ra gallery at deviantART](https://www.deviantart.com/vertiser/gallery/71908749/she-ra).
> 
> Stay awesome, guys! ^^


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